Munich

Tony Kushner is a man to watch. He caught my attention with ANGELS IN AMERICA, a surprisingly beautiful, funny, and moving film that addressed AIDS and homosexuality with insight and grace. With MUNICH, Kushner again brings beauty, humor and pathos to a subject fraught with emotion. Even more importantly, he writes characters with unique, interesting voices; characters who sound like people while reflecting universal emotions.

Some who see the picture focus on Munich's political and philosophical ramifications. I'm more interested in its personal ones. By giving us a tortured, unsure, yet ultimately effective protagonist ("A chef's heart and butcher's hands," as one character describes him), then surrounding him with a sufficiently wide variety of characters to give most viewers an "in" to his story, Kushner walks us through the toll inhumanity takes on the humane.

The protagonist, Avram (masterfully played by Eric Bana), is the kind of guy who comes home from the war with a box full of medals he never opens. I know guys like that. In particular, I'm reminded of the father of a childhood friend. This man, a Marine, had killed a Japanese soldier with his knife. The act of killing the soldier hadn't bothered him, he said. It was a few minutes later, when he was going through the man's things and came across a wallet photo of his family, that the enormity of what he had done fell in on him. It was a long war and this Marine killed again, but he never forgot that Japanese soldier with the wallet photo of his family. My friend's father knew his cause was just, but he carried his guilt all the same. Imagine, then, how it is for Avram, who sees the wallet photos (in effect) before he drives the point home.

IMDB says that this is only Kushner's second screenplay. Two scripts, and this guy has already created a resume most screenwriters coudn't match in a lifetime. I can't wait to see what he does next.